American Consumer Culture

I believe that consumer culture has had a negative effect on society. I believe this for many reasons, one of them being that Americans are, in a way, brainwashed into believing that we "need" something, or they have to look a certain way to fit in. advertising companies don't just target adults, they also purposely target young children. They do this because they know that children's brains are not fully developed and are very easily tricked into thinking that they need a certain toy or game to be cool and have friends.
The main idea that Americans are brainwashed into thinking is, "you have needs and you won't be fulfilled until you buy the right product to fill those needs." There are many problems with this message. One of them is that
it is very misleading; this is because "it is a quick fix, at best, because while you feel better for a little while, it won't last and you will have to buy something to fulfill that need.", and most of the time the "something" you have to buy to fulfill that need will usually be bigger, better, and more expensive. This leads to issues such as credit card debt. In 1999 the over all credit card debt totaled more than $500 billion and the debt for a household was $4,500, an increase in $2,250 from 1990. This resulted in many Americans filing for individual bankruptcy. Another reason so many Americans filed for individual bankruptcy was because of the wide spread availability to purchase merchandise from your home computer or almost any computer that has internet. Internet shopping has resulted in an over all total of over 20 billion dollars in credit card debt for Americans. Americans today have become lazy and rely on technology to, in a way, does things for them. Instead of going to the mall with friends or family, all they have to do is walk over to their computer, type in what they want to purchase, put in their credit card number, and sit at home and wait until their purchased merchandise is delivered to their house. In the year 2004 credit card debt was 185 billion dollars, an increase in 160 billion dollars in just five years.
Imagine a future where companies are advertising a newer, better, version of something every couple of months and people keep going out and buying the product because advertising companies make them believe they need it to be cool and popular. Imagine a future when credit card debt and the amount of people filing for individual bankruptcy were at an all time high. Well you don't have to think, that future is now and if we don't do something about it, it will become even worse. So the next time you are about to buy something ask yourself, "Do I really need this, or am I buying this just so I feel better about myself?" and maybe you can help change the future.